Modular wall construction



Dec. 7, 1965 T. CAR ETAL 3,221,455

MODULAR WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 22, 1963 2 Shee's-SheerI l VIlcH/un- J. MlLnoYKH ANTE /voslc j CHARLES L. LOVERCHECK United States Patent O 3,221,455 MUBULAR WALL CUNSTRUCTHN Tony Car, 26500 Hass Ave., Dearborn, Mich.; Alfred 0. Maclmilr, 6386 Curtis Road, Plymouth, Mich.; and Michael J. Miihovich, 15716 Rose Drive, and Ante Ivosic, 15990 Pleasant St., both of Allen Parli, Mich.

Filed Apr. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 274,539 1 Claim. (Cl. 52-285) This invention relates to walls and, more particularly, to pre-cast concrete sectional hollow walls.

The purpose of the wall disclosed herein is to reduce the cost of labor and materials consumed in present day construction and, also, to improve the quality of present day construction walls. These improvements can be made through the use of pre-cast concrete sectional hollow walls for the following reasons:

There is a far greater control over the concrete used to produce these walls due to the pre-casting and method of curing in enclosed quarters, thereby avoiding poor weather conditions. This enables the manufacturer to obtain a product of very high strength which, in turn, makes the lifting and transporting of large sections of concrete from the manufacturing site to the job site economically possible.

The method of locking these pre-cast sections together is acquired by the casting of these sections to a specified dimension so that the end of an outside section will always be supported by the cent-er of an inside section or vice versa. Along with this, threaded inserts are spaced at predetermined locations on the inside sections of the sandwiched Walls and the ends of the outside sections to match the hollow metal inserts placed in the outside sections of the sandwiched walls. As these sections are lifted into place, threaded bolts of the exact length are placed in the hollow metal inserts, which are cast into the outside walls, and screwed into threaded inserts cast into the inside sections. These bolts are used to hold the pre-cast concrete sections in place during erection as well as to strengthen the entire wall after erection is completed.

With these huge pre-cast sections of concrete walls and method of locking these sections together, it is possible to erect an exceptionally strong wall capable of withstanding far more earth, water, and wind pressures than walls produced by present methods.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an improved pre-cast wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pre-cast wall which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple and efcient to erect.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of `the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is an isometric view of a wall according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional View taken on line 4-4 of Fig. l; and

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of a bolt for holding the w-all together taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

Now with more particular reference to the drawings, a basement or foundation wall for a building is shown in FIG. 1. The wall shown in FIG. l is made up of front outside sections 11 and front inside sections 12 and 13 held in proximate spaced relation to each other. Side outside sections 1S and side inside sections 18 are similarly held in spaced relation to each other. Side outside sections 30 are similarly held in spaced relation to side inside sections 14. Rear inside sections 16 and 17 are held spaced in proximate relation to rear outside sections 31. Thus, a hollow enclosing wall is formed by the inside and outside wall sections.

These sections are all of a suitable height, depending upon the height of wall desired for the building. Walls for basements in the order of seven feet or more in height are common. The wall sections themselves can be eight feet or more in length, for example.

The inside wall sections 14, 16, and 18 may have cutouts 19, 2li, 21, and 22, for example, for windows.

Both the inside and outside sections have spaced projections di) thereon which extend from the bottom up toward the top. These projections have flat bottoms 32 between them and they have flat ends 34. which rest on each other to hold the inner and outer sections in spaced relation to each other. Each of the projections is shorter at its lower end so that a groove is formed between the projections along the bottom thereof to allow water to escape from the spaces between the projections through holes 24 in a footing 23.

The footing 23 is H-shaped in cross section and has a groove along its upper edge which is defined by the upwardly extending legs of the H. The groove is of a suitable width to receive the sections therebetween. The lower ends of the projections 40 are tapered at 134 so that a passage is formed therebetween with the footing 23 acting as the bottom of the passage.

The upper ends of the inner wall sections 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 terminate in a thickened portion 26 which is of the same thickness as the overall thickness of the section through the top of the projections 40. The upper ends of the outer wall sections have a flange 25 which overlies the grooves defined by the projections 40. Thus, the upper end of the hollow wall section is completely closed by the tiange 25 and the thickened portion 26.

Bolts 32 extend through holes 33 in the projections 4i) yand these vbolts threadably engage threaded members 34' in the projections on the other wall section. Thus, when the inner and outer sections are put into position, the bolts 32' can be tightened and the sections will be held rigidly together to form a single wall.

It will be noted that the sections are of such length that the joints between the outside sections are staggered from the joints between the inside sections. Thus, the joints of the inner sections a-re disposed approximately vat the midpoint of the outer sections so that the wall is thereby strengthened.

The corners are held together by but-t joints wherein the ends of the inner and outer members of one wall engage the sides of `adjacent ends of the inner and outer sections, respectively, of the other wall. Holes 30', 31', and 29 are formed in the outer wall sections and these holes receive bolts 24 and 25 which engage metal inserts 26', 27, and 28 in the other wall sections. Thus, the corners are held rigidly in position.

At the enlarged view of the corner shown in FIG, 4, the wall sections 15, 14, 11, and 13 may be considered `to be a firs-t wall section, a second wall section, a third wall section, and a fourth wall section, respectively. Bolts 24', 25, and 25 may be considered to be a rst bolt, a second bolt, and a third bolt, respectively. The wall sections 15, 14, 11, and 13 have projection means 40 thereon at positions spaced from the corners as mentioned previously herein. The projection means 40 on the third wall section 11 between the ends engages projection means 40 on the fourth wall section 13 between the ends in the manner indicated in FIG. 3.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but it is understood that the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claim.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are deiined as follows:

A wall comprising a iirst wall section,

a second wall section,

a third wall section.

and a fourth wall section,

said rst section and said second section being disposed in side by side relation, said third wall section and said fourth wall section being disposed in side by side relation to each other,

projection means on said rst section engaging projection means on said second section holding a part of said sections between the ends thereof in spaced relation to each other and defining spaces therebetween,

projection means on said third wall section between the ends engaging projection means on said fourth wall section between its ends,

one side of said rst section adjacent an end resting on one side of said second section adjacent its end,

one side of said `third section adjacent its end resting on a side of said fourth section,

said rst section `and said second section being disposed at right angles to said third section and said fourth section,

an end of said third section engaging a side of said iirst section,

an end of said fourth section engaging a side of said second section,

an end of said second section engaging a side of said third section, and

a irst bolt, a second bolt, and a third bolt,

said rst bolt extending through said rst section and through said second section and threadably engaging said fourth section,

said second bolt extending through said first section `and threadably engaging said third section,

said third bolt extending through said third section and threadably engaging said second section.

References Cited by the Examiner UNTED STATES PATENTS 2,208,589 7/1940 Leehuis 50-442 FOREIGN PATENTS 576,9 i7 4/1946 Great Britain. 582,249 11/1946 Great Britain. 588,175 5/1947 Great Britain.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Examiner. 

